The FCC International Bureau granted special temporary authority to EchoStar Holding Purchasing Corp. to conduct tracking, telemetry and command operations for the EchoStar 6, EchoStar 15 and EchoStar 16 satellites. The bureau granted an STA for 60 days to do tracking, telemetry and command operations for EchoStar 16 during in-orbit testing at 67.1 degrees west and during the drift of the satellite to its authorized location of 61.5 degrees west using frequencies, including 17.307 GHz and 17.7955 GHz, the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bn334j). It granted a 60-day STA to do feeder-link operations with EchoStar 15 at 44.9 degrees west on all frequencies now authorized under earth station call sign E080007, it said. Intelsat got an STA for 30 days to conduct certain operations while raising and maneuvering the EchoStar 16 to 67.1 degrees west using 17.307 GHz and 17.7955 GHz and other frequencies, the notice said.

Significant adoption of multiband small cells with embedded Wi-Fi is expected by 2016, Mobile Experts said Wednesday in a market forecast. The early small cell market will use RF backhaul below 6 GHz to address initial market requirements for throughput below 80 Mbps, but by 2016 multiband small cells will have “much higher throughput requirements in the backhaul,” said Mobile Experts principal analyst Jonathan Wells in a news release. “We anticipate an additional market segment where high-throughput millimeter wave backhaul links will be required.” The cost of wireless backhaul will reach the “tipping point” in 2015, at which point small cell deployment will be possible on a large scale, Mobile Experts said (http://xrl.us/bn3wvq).

The GSM Association suggested four frequency ranges that could be considered when selecting candidate bands for possible mobile allocations or identification to internationally standardized applications in preparations for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference, a submission to an ITU meeting this week said. The GSMA suggested the ranges 470-694 MHz, 1300-1527 MHz, 2.7-2.9 GHz and 3.4-4.2 GHz. It said 1400-1427 MHz would likely need to be protected. The GSMA said the needs of developing countries should be taken into account when considering bands to spur international mobile telecom. Bands that can help drive international harmonization, thus lower costs, should be considered, it said. Bands that help with coverage, capacity and the ability to deliver very high bit rates should also be considered, it said. GSMA wants candidate bands selected from 470 to 694 GHz. It referred to the needs of developing nations. Coverage could also be cost effectively spurred using bands up to 1.6 GHz, it said. Capacity could be boosted using bands between 1 and 4 GHz, the association said. Data speeds could be further enhanced using bands between 2 and 6 GHz, it said.

The International Bureau gave Dish permission to modify authorization for the EchoStar 10 satellite at 110.2 degrees west. Dish is authorized to operate the R10 and T48 beams in the 12.2-12.7 GHz and 17.3-17.8 GHz bands, the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bnxnrd). It also granted special temporary authority of 180 days to EchoStar to continue providing Direct Broadcast Satellite service via EchoStar 6 at 76.95 degrees west using the 17.3-17.8 GHz and 12.2-12.7 GHz bands, it said.

The FCC granted special temporary authority to EchoStar, Lockheed Martin and others, in an International Bureau public notice (http://xrl.us/bnvzun). HNS License Sub got special temporary authority to communicate with EchoStar XVII. The STA was granted from Oct. 1 to Nov. 29 to continue communicating with the satellite located at 107.1 degrees west in the 28.35-29.25 GHz and 18.3-20.2 GHz bands using earth stations within the continental U.S., the bureau said. Lockheed Martin got an STA from Oct. 19 to Nov. 18 to provide launch and early orbit phase support services for the Intelsat 23 satellite during the drift of the satellite to its assigned 53 degrees west location, using an earth station in Carpentersville, N.J., the bureau said. EchoStar’s STA regarding telemetry, tracking, command operations and feeder link communications is for the company’s EchoStar 6 satellite using fixed earth stations in Wyoming, Arizona and Virginia.

An FCC proposal to allow two-foot antennas in the 13 GHz band for wireless, as proposed by Comsearch, makes sense and should be adopted by the commission, said PCIA, MetroPCS and Clearwire in separate filings posted Tuesday at the commission. Industry commenters also endorsed other proposals on which the FCC sought comment in an August notice of proposed rulemaking (http://xrl.us/bns9xz). The NPRM was part of a broader effort by the FCC to remove regulatory barriers and promote broadband deployment.

The FCC International Bureau granted Orbcomm’s application to modify its authorization for a non-voice, non-geostationary mobile satellite service system. It permitted Orbcomm to modify the target orbital inclination of one satellite from 51.6 degrees to 51.7 degrees, the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bnsry8). The bureau also granted the company a waiver of a condition that “requires Orbcomm to complete construction of and launch the first two next-generation satellites,” it said. The waiver is limited to extending authority “to launch and operate with respect to the one satellite proposed for imminent launch.” The bureau also granted special temporary authority to Iridium and EchoStar. Iridium was given 60 days to continue to co-locate a spare in-orbit satellite with another satellite in its orbital constellation, the public notice said. EchoStar has 30 days to continue providing direct broadcast satellite service “via EchoStar 6 at 76.95 degrees west using the 17.3-17.8 GHz and 12.2-12.7 GHz frequency bands.”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) proposed that ITU studies of frequencies for possible allocation to the mobile service in 2015 focus on the possibility of identifying existing mobile allocations in the Radio Regulations for use by International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), the international standard for advanced wireless communications, a submission to a meeting next month said. The UAE has identified two of three frequency ranges where mobile allocations could be identified for IMT use. All of the 286 MHz of bandwidth allocated to the mobile service between 450 MHz and 1 GHz is identified for IMT, it said. Only 645 MHz of the 2,556 MHz allocated to the mobile service between 1 and 6 GHz is identified for use by IMT, it said. None of the 15,255 MHz allocated to the mobile service in the 6 to 30 GHz range is identified for use by IMT, it said.

House Republicans and Democrats differed over the best way to ease what both sides say is a looming commercial spectrum crunch, at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday. Majority members on the subcommittee urged federal agencies to relinquish more federal spectrum for commercial use, while Democrats cheered the administration’s across-the-board approach to sharing and clearing spectrum. A Defense Department official said federal users are working hard to achieve the administration’s goal of freeing 500 MHz of federal spectrum by 2020. Spectrum experts said that goal can only be achieved by employing sharing scenarios. Industry groups said that clearing spectrum for commercial use, rather than sharing, should be the ultimate goal.

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) filed a request to correct clerical errors found in an FCC document on the facilitation of wireless backhaul. “The FWCC had understood the Commission intended to ‘combine adjacent channels in [these bands] to form 60 and 80 megahertz wide channels,'” FWCC Counsel Mitchell Lazarus said Thursday in the request. “The channels specified in the new Section 101.147 entries, however, are not combinations of existing adjacent channels, but rather are offset from existing channels upward by 4.945 MHz in the 6 GHz band, and downward by 10 MHz in the 11 GHz band. These offsets are detrimental to efficient spectrum use. As the rule presently stands, coordinating a single 60 MHz channel will impinge on three 30 MHz channels, rather than two; and similarly, coordinating a single 80 MHz channel will impinge on three 40 MHz channels, rather than two” (http://xrl.us/bnmxgi).